Lynn Cullen Live 08/26/14
Video Archive Phone guest: Susan; difference between white eggs & brown eggs; how do fish yawn?; parking meters inaccessible to handicap folk, lawsuit to come; Pgh not an easy place to bike in; UPMC expanding global reach; American corporations are ugly; John Boehner suing Obama; Mike Brown’s funeral; why we should know Claudette Colvin’s name;…
Adjunct-unionization campaign moves on to Robert Morris University
The United Steelworkers, fresh from its successful bid to organize part-time faculty at Point Park University, has a new target in its sights: Robert Morris University. Adjuncts at school’s the Moon Township campus have begun circulating union cards to their colleagues, and plan to step up the campaign in the days ahead. Teaching as an…
Lynn Cullen Live 08/25/14
Video Archive Guest: Ann Norman, PA State Atheist / Humanist Conference; how the drought in California is affecting almond farming; front page of St. Louis newspaper charting ratio imbalance of African-American police officers to community members. Audio Only Archive Audio Archive is currently unavailable
Sneak Preview of Doc Ellis documentary, on Aug. 26
New documentary film about Pittsburgh Pirate Doc Ellis gets a sneak peek
Improv Show Includes Web Series Sneak Peek
Clip from “Stoners With a Time Machine” featured
Lynn Cullen Live 08/22/14
Video Archive Guest: Chris Potter. Audio Only Archive Audio Archive is currently unavailable
Air Traffic Controller lands in Station Square tonight
Photo by Rick Macomber Air Traffic Controller Air Traffic Controller plays tonight at Hard Rock Café. The Boston-based band started with vocalist/guitarist Dave Munro sending demos back home while he was serving as an actual air traffic controller in the Navy. When his enlistment was up, he came home and started the indie-electro rock band.…
Lynn Cullen Live 08/21/14
Video Archive Guest: Tom Sokolowski; ALS ice bucket challenge — the good, the bad, the annoying; Pittsburgh last on list of cities of those satisfied w/ employers; Uber having trouble in Europe; La’veon Bell & LaGarrett Blount arrested for marijuana; Callers: PJ, Greensburg / Joe / Unknown. Audio Only Archive
Fresh Start PA challenges Gov. Corbett on education issues
At a press conference this morning hosted by the Campaign for a Fresh Start, chairwoman Katie McGinty challenged Gov. Tom Corbett on cuts to education funding during his tenure and the recent scandal surrounding his former special adviser on higher education Ron Tomalis. Taken together, said McGinty, those two issues have created a burden for…
Local indie comedy screens tomorrow
“Progression” also accepted at California festival
Point of Law: Do ‘safe passing’ regulations really make it safer for cyclists if they’re not enforced?
It isn’t often that lawmakers spend years shepherding legislation they know will likely not be enforced. Yet when it came to state Rep. Ron Miller’s “Safe Passing” bicycle bill — a law designed to give cyclists a buffer from drivers — that’s exactly what he foresaw. “From day one, we suspected it would be very…
Gas Relief: New Braddock fueling station working to move customers toward biodiesel
Years into selling local kitchens’ used cooking grease as fuel, Fossil Free Fuel, in Braddock, is adding a new component to its slick business model: operating a biodiesel filling station. Any diesel-powered vehicle — from passenger cars to big rigs — can pull into this unassuming lot at 107 Braddock Ave. and fill up from…
Judah Friedlander is among the headliners at the inaugural Pittsburgh Comedy Festival
PITTSBURGH COMEDY FESTIVAL Thu., Aug. 21-Sun., Aug. 23 Henry Heymann Theatre, Stephen Foster Memorial, 4301 Forbes Ave., Oakland. $10-40. Complete schedule at pittsburghcomedy festival.org If you believe comedy is struggling in the Steel City, the inaugural Pittsburgh Comedy Festival dares you to think again. This ambitious three-day event includes headliners Judah Friedlander (of 30 Rock…
Ashes to Ashes: New plan to deal with Mansfield plant’s coal residuals isn’t much of an improvement
Coal is in the news, mostly in terms of climate change, dirty air and jobs. But burning coal for electricity gives us something else, too. One notable example sits about 40 miles northwest of Pittsburgh: the Little Blue Run impoundment. This 1,700-acre “lake” on the West Virginia line, in Beaver County, contains four decades’ worth…
Champing
Prepare to experience greatness. So advises Judah Friedlander, the 30 Rock alum and Pittsburgh Comedy Festival headliner. The self-appointed “World Champion” appears Aug. 21 and 22. The trucker-hat-donning Maryland native dabbled in filmmaking before settling on a career as a comedian. In addition to his standup, he’s appeared in dozens of films, including Zoolander, The…
Make or Break
The Pittsburgh success story goes something like this: Once the steel mills closed down, we turned away from manufacturing and doubled down on investments in finance, medicine and higher education. We exchanged our union cards for college diplomas. At age 29, Joshua Bannister’s success story is still being written. But so far, it doesn’t sound…
Matt Gondek and Brian Gonnella draw together
BIG BANG at The Shop 4314 Main St. Bloomfield. Open evenings Aug. 22, 23, 26 and 27, and by appointment at gondekdesign@gmail.com Somewhere between pop-culture consumerism and the contents of a 15-year-old’s brain lies the most recent work by Matt Gondek and Brian Gonnella. The local artists collaborated on collages of epic proportions for their…
Savage Love
I’m a twentysomething genetic male. I thought for a while that I might be trans, but while I hate my masculine features and want to be “cute,” I have no desire to be female. I’ve been with both boys and girls, and currently I’m with a trans girl. Recently I’ve found myself indulging in trans-girl…
The Gospel Singer at The Lab Project
THE GOSPEL SINGER continues through Aug. 31. The Lab Project at Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Co. 937 Liberty Ave. Downtown. $10-15 labprojectpgh.org Last year, Pittsburgh playwright C.S. Wyatt’s The Gospel Singer got a staged reading as part of Bricolage Productions’ In the Raw series. Director and actor Monteze Freeland saw that performance and decided to bring…
Something About Bridges
The s-curve of the McKees Rocks Bridge tilts ever so gently against the skyline. To get anywhere, I have to criss-cross rivers. I drive toward the city through the tunnel and the skyscrapers break the horizon. Atop the inbound deck of the Fort Pitt Bridge, Pittsburgh beckons my daemons to jump into the icy Mongaheala…
A local author’s new book on Lucky Luciano
With revenue estimates into the hundreds of millions of dollars annually, bootlegging liquor, a cornerstone of American organized crime, had major economic consequences. Yet, notes local author Christian Cipollini, “In school, the textbooks say maybe one sentence about prohibition and Al Capone.” Cipollini’s new book is a straightforward and rigorously researched biography of renowned mobster…
Stuff We Like
Tom Friday’s Market. This popular neighborhood butcher shop can get crowded, but it’s a great stop for reasonably priced, high-quality meats, with quick no-nonsense service no matter how busy. Try the bulk breakfast sausage or the stuffed pork chops. 3639 California Ave., Brighton Heights Scout Dog Collars. Locally made, sturdy dog collars in all manner…
Mood Indigo
Mood Indigo Directed by: Michel Gondry Starring: Romain Duris, Audrey Tatou, Omar Sy Starts: Fri., Aug. 22. Melwood In French, with subtitles. With Mood Indigo, French filmmaker Michel Gondry returns to the surreal and visually inventive after recent forays into the mainstream (The Green Hornet) and teen slice-of-afternoon (The We and the I). His latest…
Short List: August 20 – 27
SPOTLIGHT: Wed., Aug. 27 — Words The Moth is a Peabody-award winning radio program celebrating the art of storytelling. Its radically honest format has attracted raconteurs ranging from Molly Ringwald to Run-DMC’s Darryl McDaniels. Tonight, the group’s touring arm makes its annual stop in Pittsburgh to explore the theme of bravery in a show it’s…
The Giver
In the future, humans live in a self-contained space atop a cloud-shrouded mesa, a bland planned community where emotions are chemically suppressed and everything is orderly. Young people are assigned careers, and it’s Jonas’ privilege to be the “Receiver.” He will work with the reclusive “Giver” (Jeff Bridges), and through some unexplained mind-meld process become…
San Lorenzo Ristorante
San Lorenzo Ristorante 4407 Butler St. Lawrenceville. 412-235-7696 Hours: Dinner Tue.-Sat. 5-9 p.m.; lunch Sat. 11 a.m.-2 p.m.; brunch Sun. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Prices: Appetizers and salads $8-13; pasta $16-20; entrees $20-29 Liquor: BYOB In a city that loves Italian food, the opening of another traditional Italian restaurant is hardly surprising — except when it…
The Expendables 3
Fast facts about Patrick Hughes’ actioner to help you decide whether this largely plotless he-man-and-weapons extravaganza is right for you: Stars Sylvester Stallone. Globe-hopping from Somalia to New Orleans to “Esmenistan” (film actually shot in Bulgaria). Sample dialogue: “We’re coming in hot”; “I’ll open up your meat shirt and show you your own heart”; “Benghazi”;…
Shrubdown offers the lowdown on shrubs, an do-it-yourself cocktail trend
I first wrote about shrubs, the colonial-era method of preserving fruits and vegetables as drinking vinegars, two years ago. The idea of drinking vinegar in a cocktail or soda sounded a little bit absurd at first — it seemed like a neo-hippie fashion — but shrubs are a delightful way to preserve the season. And…
If I Stay
It might be my advanced age, but I would have much preferred hanging out with the lively, hip parents depicted in this film rather than the mopey teens all confused about life, love and stuff. But R.J. Cutler’s melodrama is adapted from Gayle Forman’s young-adult novel, in which a Portland teenager named Mia (Chloe Grace…
Some 75,000 bees are the latest residents of Downtown Pittsburgh
The Duquesne Club is now accepting worker bees. At least those willing to fly miles around the city, searching for nectar. On a roof six stories above the sumptuous trappings of its dining and recreation rooms, the Downtown invite-only social club is home to an apiary of roughly 75,000 bees, capable of pumping out many…
Chancellor Warhol brings his art-rap to the Warhol Museum
CHANCELLOR WARHOL with DJ SOY SOS. 8 p.m. Sat., Aug. 23. The Andy Warhol Museum, 117 Sandusky St. North Side. $12-15. All ages. 412-237-8300 or warhol.org Chancellor Warhol (real name: Antonio Boleyjack) has become one of the more notable hip-hop exports in a town not necessarily known for hip hop: Nashville. The rapper and visual…
Washed Out releases a visceral Paracosm
WASHED OUT with SMALL BLACK. 7 p.m. Wed., Aug. 27. Mr. Small’s Theatre, 400 Lincoln Ave. Millvale. $17-20. All ages. 412-821-4447 or mrsmalls.com A heady take on Paracosm, the second full-length from Ernest Greene, who performs as Washed Out, might take into consideration the titles of the opening and closing tracks: “Entrance” and “All Over…
Benefits planned for Karl Hendricks after cancer diagnosis
KARL HENDRICKS BENEFIT SHOW featuring Tim Midyett and Andy Cohen of Bottomless Pit, Dama/Libra, The Gotobeds, Carousel, Line Forms. 8 p.m. Fri., Aug. 22. Brillobox 4104 Penn Ave. Bloomfield. $10. 412-621-4900 or brillobox.net For decades now, Karl Hendricks has been known for singing frankly about love and loss, without holding anything back. But when the…
Critics’ Picks: August 20 – 26
[PUNK] + THU., AUG. 21 It’s the end of August and you kids are going back to school. Before that big first day, some go back-to-school shopping, some go on last-minute vacations and others go to punk fests. Skull Fest is back again for the latter, and brings you four days of circle pits, moshing…
New Releases
Girl Scout Girl Scout (Self-released) A nice six-song debut EP from the local grungy indie band. This one’s a ride through the ’90s, from Dinosaur Jr.-style guitar wailing (and some J. Mascis-style vocals) to one straight-up punk tune and another slow-burning acoustic-guitar-based number. In the context of the rest of the EP, the punk song…
Lynn Cullen Live 08/20/14
Video Archive Guest: Jared Day, Daylee News Nuggets; definition of tragedy; Ferguson reminiscent of Civil Rights movement; demonstration in East Liberty, standing w/ Ferguson & honoring local young black man shot by a cop; Luke Ravenstahl is off the hook; Obit: Don Pardo, SNL announcer. Audio Only Archive
